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Braden Thornberry won the NCAA men's individual golf title by four strokes on Monday.

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Braden Thornberry watches his tee shot Sunday during the finals of the Mississippi State Amateur Golf Tournament at Country Club of Jackson.(Photo: Greg Jenson/The Clarion-Ledger, Greg Jenson/The Clarion-Ledger)Buy Photo

He helped Team USA to a 19-7 win over Team Great Britain and Ireland, winning both his single matches at Los Angeles Country Club last weekend.

He beat Harry Ellis, the 2017 British Amateur champion, despite trailing by two strokes with five holes to play. Thornberry won four out of five and halved the other to win 2-up.

Thornberry made quick work of Paul McBride of Ireland the next day, beating him 6-5 in 13 holes.

"It was awesome," he said. "I think it was a great venue for something like the Walker Cup. (The course) had a good mixture of long and short holes that made it a great design."

Thornberry is playing spectacular golf headed into the college season. The Rebels kick off the season Sept. 25 and Sept. 26 at the Shoal Creek Invitational in Birmingham.

The Rebels lost two key players — Josh Wolcott, who won one tournament and notched five top-5 finishes last year, and Noah West, who shot an average score of 73.4 in 37 rounds.

But Thornberry believes the Rebels could be even better, thanks to the addition of a couple of freshmen from the metro area, Jackson Prep's Charlie Miller and Cecil Wegener, as well as East Tennessee State transfer Ben Reichart.

Miller and Wegener were both a part of Jackson Prep's state championship team last year, and Reichart is a sophomore who won Southern Conference All-Freshman honors before coming to Ole Miss.

"They are all awesome guys," Thornberry said. "As far as their golf goes, Cecil has been playing really well. He's going to be a good player for us."

Sanderson Farms Pro-Ams sold out

Joe Sanderson and Century Club Charities' investment in Jackson is already starting to pay off.

The Sanderson Farms Championship, the Magnolia State's only PGA Tour event, has already sold out all 76 teams in its two pro-ams, slated for Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 23-24, ahead of the tournament.

“We are delighted to have sold all available Pro-Am teams for 2017,” said Jeff Hubbard, president of Century Club Charities, the event’s host organization. “The loyalty our corporate community has shown our tournament through charitable giving is remarkable and embodies what a great market Jackson is for professional golf.”

Free admission tickets to the Wednesday Pro-Am are available online or at Will Call at the Northpark Mall parking lot.

Tickets for the tournament are on sale now for $20 for any day general admission, $50 for a week-long pass or $40 and $90 for tickets in the BankPlus Fan Pavilion.

Pro tip

Old Waverly golf instructor Tim Yelverton was featured on the Golf Smarter podcast with Fred Greene earlier this month. (If you don't already listen to Greene's podcast, do yourself a favor and subscribe.)

Yelverton, who exclusively works with golfers on their short games, talked about a lot of things, but what I found most interesting was his take on warming up for a round.

"Warm-ups should always be three parts," Yelverton said. "Distance, direction and setting your mind into play-mode."

He said his routine includes about 15 minutes on the putting green.

"Personally, I start with distance. I'll take one ball, and for five minutes I'm just walking around the putting green hitting as many puts as possible. Fifty footers, 60 footers, 30 footers — very random, only one ball.

"Part two is I take that one ball and I putt five-footers for another five minutes. That's all about face awareness, which is ultimately direction."

The final five minutes, he said, he selects a short putt, then a medium putt, then a long putt. That helps him simulate hitting different putts back-to-back, something he'll have to do on the course.

Contact Tyler Cleveland at 601-961-7371 or tcleveland@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter.